Settling an estate in Pennsylvania
An executor in Pennsylvania has to work through the Orphans' Court and a long list of tasks that have nothing to do with the court. This page sets out what Pennsylvania law actually requires at each step, with the section it comes from and the date we last read it.
- Probate court
- Orphans' Court
- Small-estate shortcut
- Estates of $50,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only — real estate is not counted toward the limit).
- Creditor claim period
- No fixed window — see the notice-to-creditors step below for what actually protects you here.
- Typical timeline
- 9–18 months
- State death tax
- a state inheritance tax
Immediate
Obtain certified death certificates
Pennsylvania has a trap in its evidence rule that matters if you have corrected a certificate. Under 35 P.S. § 450.810 a record, or a duly certified copy of one, filed with the department constitutes prima facie evidence of its contents — but expressly not where it is a delayed record filed under section 702 of the act, or a record corrected under section 703. So a Pennsylvania death certificate that has been corrected does not carry that automatic weight, and an institution is entitled to look behind it. Allow time for that when you have had an error fixed. Who may obtain a copy is not set out in the Vital Statistics Law, and 28 Pa. Code chapter 1 deals with issuance by local registrars rather than with eligibility, so the Department of Health sets that list administratively — check its current application form before ordering. Two practical notes. The funeral director usually orders the first batch as part of their service, so ask them how many they have already requested before you order more — families routinely pay twice. And order more than you think: banks, insurers and transfer agents often keep the copy you give them rather than returning it. Confirm the current fee on the state’s own page at the moment you order, because fees change without notice.
35 P.S. § 450.810·last read 2026-08-25
Locate the will (or confirm there is none)
Pennsylvania puts no automatic deadline on whoever holds the will, but it gives you a fast and specifically targeted remedy through the Register rather than through a judge. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3137, at the request of any party in interest the register shall issue a citation directed to any person alleged to have possession or control of a will, requiring them to show cause why it should not be deposited with the register. In the absence of good cause shown, the register shall order the will deposited. So if someone is sitting on the will, you do not wait and you do not need a lawsuit: you ask the register to issue a citation. Note also § 3131 — a Pennsylvania will is probated only before the register of the county where the person had their last family or principal residence, so it is that county’s register you approach.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3131, 3137·last read 2026-08-18
Short-term
Claim the family allowances you are entitled to
Pennsylvania calls it the Family Exemption and it is a fixed $3,500 — 20 Pa.C.S. § 3121. Who can claim it runs in a strict order. First the spouse of a person who died domiciled in Pennsylvania. If there is no spouse, or the spouse has forfeited the right, then such children as were members of the same household. And if there are none, then a parent who was a member of the same household. Being in the household is the test for everyone except the spouse, so an adult child who had moved out cannot claim it. What you claim is real or personal property, or both, up to that value — it does not have to be cash — provided the personal representative has not already sold it. One limit: property specifically left to someone by the will cannot be taken for the exemption if other assets are available. $3,500 is small next to what neighbouring states give, so do not assume Pennsylvania is generous here because Maryland or the District is. Two things can take it away, and § 3121 does not say what they are. It passes the exemption to the household children where the spouse “has forfeited his rights”, and makes the surviving spouse a competent witness on that question. Section 2106 is where the spousal forfeitures live: a year or more of wilfully neglecting or refusing the duty to support the other spouse, a year or more of wilful and malicious desertion, or death during divorce proceedings where grounds were established but no decree was entered. But § 2106 removes rights “under this chapter”, meaning the intestacy chapter, so whether it reaches the exemption in chapter 31 is a question for an attorney. Chapter 88 is not ambiguous. Under § 8802 no slayer shall in any way acquire any property or receive any benefit as the result of the death, and § 8802.1 says the same of an elder abuser — language broad enough to take the family exemption with it.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 2106, 3121, 8802, 8802.1·last read 2026-08-27
Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed
Pennsylvania splits this between the statute and the court rules, and the statute is the smaller half. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3162 the personal representative must, immediately after the grant of letters, advertise it once a week for three successive weeks. That goes in a newspaper of general circulation published at or near where the deceased resided or where letters were granted, and in the legal periodical designated by rule of court, if there is one. That section is advertisement only — it asks claimants and debtors to make themselves known, and it does not by itself require a letter to any beneficiary. The duty to notify beneficiaries personally sits in the Orphans’ Court Rules rather than in Title 20, so ask the Register of Wills or the court which rule applies and what certification it wants filed. Do not treat the advertisement as the whole of the job. Getting this wrong rarely costs money directly — it stalls the case. An estate that cannot show notice was properly given can be held open, and the appointment itself can be reopened, so keep proof of what you sent, to whom, and on what date.
20 Pa.C.S. § 3162·last read 2026-08-25
Determine if probate is required
Pennsylvania’s small-estate route is a Court Petition, not a form you hand to a bank, and the $50,000 is measured in a particular way. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3102 it applies where the person died domiciled in Pennsylvania owning property of a gross value not exceeding $50,000 — exclusive of real estate, and exclusive of the small payments to family and funeral directors allowed under § 3101, but including personal property claimed as the family exemption. So the house does not count toward the $50,000 at all, and the calculator above now reflects that. Any party in interest petitions the Orphans’ Court Division of the county where the person was domiciled. The court may direct distribution in its discretion, with or without an appraisement, on whatever notice it requires — and it may do so whether or not letters have been issued or a will probated. Be clear on the limit though: this distributes personal property. Real estate is outside it and will need its own route.
20 Pa.C.S. § 3102·last read 2026-08-18
Legal Process
File a petition with the probate court
You go to the Register of Wills in the county where the person lived; that office grants the letters, and the Orphans’ Court division handles disputes. § 3131 is precise about which county: a will is probated only before the register of the county where the decedent had their last family or principal residence, and only if they were not domiciled in Pennsylvania may it go to a register of any county where property is located. The timing rule in § 3133 is the one that costs people money. A will may be offered for probate at any time — there is no deadline, and probate is then conclusive as to the property it disposes of unless an appeal is taken or the record is amended for a later will. But a will offered more than one year after the death is void against a bona fide purchaser of, or lienholder on, the decedent’s real estate if that deed or lien was recorded before the will was offered. So there is no penalty for being slow until real estate changes hands, and then the penalty is total. If a house is involved, probate within the year.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3131, 3133·last read 2026-08-18
Inventory all assets and debts
Pennsylvania files the inventory with the Register rather than with a judge, and its deadline is unlike anyone else’s. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3301 every personal representative must file with the register a verified inventory of all real and personal estate of the deceased. Out-of-state land is not simply left out: real estate outside Pennsylvania is excluded from the inventory proper, but § 3301(b) requires a memorandum of it at the end of the inventory, where the representative may elect to show values — those values are not extended into the inventory total. On timing, § 3301(c) does not run from your appointment at all. The inventory is due no later than the date you file your account, or the due date (including any extension) for the estate’s inheritance tax return, whichever is earlier — and the Pennsylvania inheritance tax return is itself due nine months after the death. Any party in interest can pull that forward: on written notice you must file within three months of appointment or 30 days after the request, whichever is later, and the court may direct a filing at any time. Related sections cover valuations (§ 3302), a supplemental inventory when something further comes to light (§ 3303), and objections (§ 3305) — the figures you file are open to challenge by anyone interested, which is a good reason not to estimate loosely.
20 Pa.C.S. § 3301·last read 2026-08-19
Publish notice to creditors
Pennsylvania does not work the way the phrase “one-year creditor window“ suggests. There is no special probate claim bar. Ordinary statutes of limitation apply to the deceased’s debts, and under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3384 a written notice of claim given to you or your attorney tolls the limitation period — as does a creditor suing you, substituting you as defendant, forcing you to file an account, or getting a written acknowledgment from you. The famous one year is something different. § 3532 lets you distribute at your own risk, without filing or auditing an account. It protects you from a claimant unless the claim was known to you within one year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters — or became known later but before you distributed. So the year runs from advertisement, not from the date of death, and it protects you rather than barring the creditor. It also turns on knowledge: a claim you know about is not cured by waiting. Your actual duty is § 3162 — Immediately after letters are granted, advertise once a week for three successive weeks in two places: a newspaper of general circulation near where the person lived, and the legal periodical designated by rule of court. Include your name and address, ask claimants to come forward and debtors to pay. Miss the legal periodical and the advertisement is not complete, so the year never starts.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3162, 3384, 3532·last read 2026-08-19
Administration
Identify and close digital accounts
Pennsylvania adopted the revised uniform act at 20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 39, and the definitions at § 3902 draw the line that matters: a catalog of electronic communications identifies each person the user communicated with — who, when, and at what address — while the content is the substance of what was said. As under the uniform act generally, a fiduciary can expect access to the catalog far more readily than to the content, and content turns on the user having consented. Because Pennsylvania enacted this comparatively late, older Pennsylvania guidance may predate it entirely and say that fiduciaries have no rights at all — check the date on anything you read. One more point, and in your actual order of work it belongs first: check for an online tool before you check the will. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3904 the opening question is not what the will says. Some providers offer a tool that lets the user name who may receive their account — Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Facebook’s Legacy Contact and the like. If the user actually used it, that direction overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust or power of attorney. That holds so long as the tool let them change or delete it at any time. Only where there is no online-tool direction does the will, trust or power of attorney govern, and only where there is neither does the provider’s terms-of-service agreement decide. So look at the accounts before you look at the paperwork — it is quick, it is free, and it can settle the question outright.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3902, 3904·last read 2026-08-19
Financial Settlement
Pay valid debts and expenses
Pennsylvania compresses the medical classes into the funeral class and adds a six-month window that catches people out. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3392, subject to federal preference. (1) Costs of administration. (2) The Family Exemption. (3) Funeral and burial costs together with medicines furnished, medical or nursing services, hospital services and medical-assistance services provided within six months of death, and wages of the person’s employees within that time. (4) The cost of a gravemarker. (5) Rent for the occupancy of the person’s residence for the six months before death; (5.1) claims of the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions. (6) All other claims. Medical bills older than six months get no priority at all in Pennsylvania — they sit in class 6 with the credit cards. Paying a lower-ranked debt before a higher-ranked one can leave you personally liable for the difference. So where the estate may not cover everything, stop before paying anything beyond the costs of administration, and take advice. The family exemption ranks ahead of the funeral in Pennsylvania, so the funeral bill is not the safe first payment it looks like.
20 Pa.C.S. § 3392·last read 2026-08-27
File required tax returns
Pennsylvania has an inheritance tax that turns on who inherits rather than on the size of the estate, so a modest estate can still owe it. The rates: 0% to a surviving spouse, and also 0% to a parent inheriting from a child aged 21 or younger — which matters exactly when a family is least able to deal with it. Then 4.5% to direct descendants and lineal heirs, 12% to siblings, and 15% to everyone else, except charities, exempt institutions and government entities, which pay nothing. Before putting anyone in that last band, read the definitions in 72 P.S. § 9102, because they are wider than the ordinary words: “Children” there “includes natural children whether or not they have been adopted by others, adopted children and stepchildren,” and “lineal descendants” likewise reaches stepdescendants. So a stepchild pays 4.5% rather than 15%, and a child who was adopted away as a baby is still a child of the birth parent for this tax. A “sibling” is “an individual who has at least one parent in common with the decedent, whether by blood or by adoption,” which puts a half-brother and an adoptive sister in the 12% band, not the 15% one. Property owned jointly between spouses is exempt outright. Certain farmland and agricultural property passing to eligible recipients is exempt for deaths after 30 June 2012, with conditions worth checking if a farm is involved. There is also an exemption, for deaths from 6 September 2022, for the personal property of a member of the armed forces who died while serving on active duty. The return is filed with the Register of Wills who granted the letters, and the cheque is payable to “Register of Wills, Agent” — the Register collects it as agent for the Commonwealth. Work out each beneficiary’s rate before promising anyone a figure: a sibling and a child inheriting the same amount owe very different tax.
72 P.S. §§ 9102 (definitions), 9116 (rates)·last read 2026-09-09
Distribution
Distribute assets to heirs
Pennsylvania’s cushion is $30,000 and it applies in two of the four cases. 20 Pa.C.S. § 2102 sets those four. The spouse takes the entire estate if there is no surviving issue and no parent. They take the first $30,000 plus half the balance if there is no issue but a parent or parents survive. They take the first $30,000 plus half if there are children and all of them are also the spouse’s. And they take a flat one half, with no cushion at all, if one or more of the children are not the spouse’s. Three things people miss. A living parent of the deceased inherits ahead of nobody but takes half of everything above $30,000 where the couple was childless. Subsection (5) deals with a partial intestacy: where the spouse receives property under a will that does not dispose of everything, what they take under the will satisfies the $30,000 allowance pro tanto — so they do not get the cushion twice. And Pennsylvania also has an inheritance tax that turns on who inherits, so the shares above are before that bite. Finally, 20 Pa.C.S. § 2106 can remove the spouse from the picture altogether, and nothing in the shares above warns you of it. A spouse who for one year or more before the death wilfully neglected or refused to perform the duty to support the other spouse, or who for one year or more wilfully and maliciously deserted them, has no right or interest in the estate at all. The same applies where the deceased died domiciled in Pennsylvania during divorce proceedings, no divorce decree had been entered, and grounds had been established under 23 Pa.C.S. § 3323(g). Subsection (b) does the same to a parent who failed to support or deserted a minor or dependent child for a year. If the couple were estranged, ask about § 2106 before paying anybody. Pennsylvania also has a whole chapter on this, headed slayers and elder abusers, and one part of it is a duty that falls on YOU. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 8802 a slayer does not acquire property as a result of the slaying, and § 8802.1 — added by Act 40 of 2024 — says an elder abuser may not acquire any property or receive any benefit on the victim’s death. The chapter then works through descent, legacies, tenancies by the entirety, joint tenancies, reversions, remainders, powers of appointment and insurance, and protects obligors and purchasers acting in good faith. Now the part to act on: § 8814.1, the preadjudication rule. Where a person has been CHARGED with voluntary manslaughter or homicide, other than homicide by vehicle, in connection with the death, any property or benefit that would otherwise pass to them must be placed and preserved in ESCROW by the personal representative. If the charge is dismissed or withdrawn, or a not-guilty verdict returned, it passes as if no charge had been made; on conviction it passes under the chapter. There is also a way back for an elder abuser: under § 8816 they may still take if it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the victim knew of the conviction and expressed or ratified an intent to transfer to them, or that the two reconciled after the conviction. These shares apply only where there is no valid will — a will overrides all of it. And Pennsylvania does not give you a creditor period to wait out — there is no claim bar date here, which is why the chip above says none. What protects you instead is 20 Pa.C.S. § 3532(a): a personal representative may distribute at their own risk, and that distribution carries no liability to a claimant, unless the claim was known to them within one year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters, or became known after that but before the distribution. So the year from first advertisement is the period to respect, and a claim you already know about is not cured by waiting it out. Two sections settle who is issue in the first place. Section 2108 makes an adopted person the issue of the adopting parents and stops them “continuing to be the child or issue of his natural parents” — with an exception few states have. The tie survives “in distributing the estate of a natural kin, OTHER THAN the natural parent, who has maintained a family relationship with the adopted person”, so a birth grandmother or aunt who stayed in the child’s life can still pass to them on intestacy. And where a natural parent married the adopting parent, the adopted person is issue of that natural parent too. Section 2107 covers a person born out of wedlock, who is always the child of the mother. They are the child of the father in three cases. The parents married each other. Or, during the child’s lifetime, the father openly held the child out as his and either received the child into his home or provided support. Or there is clear and convincing evidence of paternity, which “may include a prior court determination”. There is no deadline in the section. One caution about reading across from the tax step: a stepchild counts as a lineal descendant for Pennsylvania INHERITANCE TAX under 72 P.S. § 9102 and pays 4.5%, but nothing in § 2108 makes a stepchild an heir. A stepchild who is left something in a will is taxed gently; a stepchild left nothing takes nothing.
20 Pa.C.S. §§ 2102, 2106, 2107, 2108, 8802, 8802.1, 8814.1, 8816; 20 Pa.C.S. § 3532·last read 2026-09-09
Close Estate
File a final accounting and close the estate
Pennsylvania times the account from the advertisement rather than from your appointment, which trips people who count from the wrong date. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3501.1 a personal representative may file an account at any time after four months from the first complete advertisement of the original grant of letters, and may not file it earlier unless the court directs. Then the pressure point: after six months from that same first complete advertisement, a personal representative can be cited to file an account — that is, an interested person can force the issue. And the court may direct an account at any time regardless. So the practical window opens at four months and the risk of being compelled begins at six.
20 Pa.C.S. § 3501.1·last read 2026-08-18
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EstateMate is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Every note above cites the section it came from and the date it was last read, so you can check it yourself. Statutes change, and the right answer can turn on facts specific to your family — when something looks close to the line, talk to a Pennsylvania probate attorney.